A zip or button band finishes the front opening edge – what to do with the neckline ?
The common neckline finishes are bias binding/facing, or a stand collar.

If possible, sew the neckline treatment after the shoulder seams but before the side and sleeve seams. It’s much easier to do it while the fabric is nearly flat.

This post ends with some ways you can vary the pattern slightly to make other looks.

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Bias binding or bias facing

Often the neckline is finished with bias binding or bias facing.
Staystitch the neckline, as a bias strip doesn’t add any stability.
Here are links to some tutorials on bias binding.
I’m preparing a tutorial on sewing bias facing without distortion, not a quick process.

For dealing with the top corner where bias facing joins button band (and the bottom corner where hem joins button band), see examples in the two photo tutorials linked before :100 Acts of SewingGuthrie & Ghani

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Collars

Here’s a free pattern from Colette patterns with several collar ideas.
These are patterns for a top with no front opening, so can’t be used directly, but are a source of ideas. Simply add a curve with seam allowance instead of the CF fold ?

Collar between main body and bias strip

You can borrow many collar shapes from other patterns and add them into the neckline seam between main body and bias facing.

from McCall’s Sewing in Colour 1964
top – baste collar to neckline,
middle – black overlayer is wrong side of bias strip,
bottom – stitch together bias-collar-body, then finish the bias strip by machine, or hand stitching can be less visible.

Stand collar

Finish the neckline with a stand collar which ends at the outer edge of the front opening, so it covers the top of the band. This may be called a ‘Mandarin’ collar. There may be a button if the ends of the band overlap.

Here’s a detailed photo tutorial on sewing a band collar, from Andrea Brown of Four Square Walls. Use just the band, or both parts of a 2-piece collar.

Collar length

When adding a collar/hood you need to match the neckline stitching line lengths of body and collar/hood.

For most collars added into seam between main body and neckline finish (bias facing strip or standard facing) :
Match length of collar to – neckline length from CB to CF.

For stand/band collar :
Match length of collar to – neckline length from CB to outer edge of finished band (or outer edge of facing).

Notes in this post on how to measure the stitching line, and change the length of a collar pattern.

Another band collar

There’s another style of stand collar, called a ’Nehru’ collar, where the end of the collar band is inset from the edge of the front opening.
A more complex pattern make and sew when combined with front bands, so I’m not covering it here.

Intermediate plackets
There are front band openings I haven’t included – I’ve gone for the easy ones.
Some which need intermediate levels of pattern making and sewing are :
Full length opening : covered/hidden buttonholes.
Half length opening : exposed zip, polo, henley.
Hmm – some day I’ll look for good tutorials. . .

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As usual, many riches to add to your simple pattern making skills. With just a little practice, many styles can become do-it-yourself 😀

There are many little design decisions to make about openings. I give the conventions, but make adjustments if you want to.
Do what professional designers do – if it doesn’t work out quite right, change things a bit and try again.
(Megan Nielsen recently sent an e-mail describing the months of refinements that go into developing her patterns. And we expect to get it right first time. . . )
Use your own judgement about what is right and what isn’t. Or collect examples of what you like.
Get to know your own wearing, designing, making preferences 😀 😀

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This entry was posted on December 6, 2018 at 10:16 am and is filed under pattern making for clothes. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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